Chapter 18 Frustrations

From there the meeting had continued rather simply. At first the two female lycanthropes had been rather pissed off to put it mildly, they apparently were not happy about the news of Clayman potentially being somehow involved with all of this bullshit, however Rimuru did manage to quickly calm them down before things ended up getting out of hand. I was still a little conflicted to say the least though, the fact that Milim was for some reason involved with all of this confused the hell out of me.

Anyway, Rimuru believed that Carrion was actually still alive and that something very fishy was going on. I myself had to agree with him, after all from the little that I knew of demon lord Clayman he didn't seem like the type of person Milim would be happy working with and that is what was confusing me the most if I was being honest with myself. I was a little tempted to use my Prophecy skill but decided against it, after all I had no real idea how severe the backlash would be from using it and I really couldn't afford to be put out of commission with all this craziness going on at the moment.

After a bit more back and forth the meeting slowly came to a close. The three lycanthropes were the first to leave, they left to go and check up on their people who were gathered in an area close to Tempest. With their departure however the rest of us were left to think of what we were going to do next.

"So what now?" I asked as I glanced over at Rimuru.

"Well there are somethings that I need to check up on, as for what you want to do that's up to you really" Rimuru simply shrugged, however a second later something seemed to come to him as he made an "Ah" sound and snapped his fingers in realization.

"Actually you might want to go and visit Kaijin as well as Vesta, they have been wanting to continue your plan to sell your various enchanted items for a while now. Of course considering recent events we may want to rethink some of the things that we were previously planning to sell to the masses" that I could agree with, after all it would be stupid for us to accidentally sell enchanted weapons to our enemies.

"Got it" I would most definitely visit my two business friends later but for now there was something that I needed to do in private. So I got ready to make my leave, however Rigurd voice had stopped me abruptly before I could even reach the door.

"By the way Lady Suu"

"What?" I asked curiously as I turned back to him.

"Could you ask your friend to let us take care of the prisoners that are still standing outside of Tempest" I was a little confused by that, I vaguely remember what he meant by prisoners but not what he meant by friend. I knew for a fact that all of the abyss creatures were currently inside of the abyss so I didn't quite understand what he meant.

"Friend? What friend?" I asked rather puzzled as I rubbed the back of my head.

"The strange horse-like creature that brought you back here three days ago. It is now guarding the area where your battle had taken place, it refuses to allow us to move the prisoners that have been standing there for all this time" that caused me to pause for a good moment. I took several seconds to think and try to remember what he was talking about until it finally came to me, however that realization was overshadowed by something else.

(Wait...are those guys that I dominated still standing there after all this time? Haven't it been like three days? How the hell haven't they died of dehydration?) I thought to myself with a shake of my head.

"It's more like a kelpie actually" Rimuru helpfully chimed in.

"Errrm...oh, oh! You mean that thing? I forgot I even created it" I muttered, catching Rimuru's attention.

"Created it?"

"Let's just say that a lot has happened over the time I was out of Tempest" I was planning on filling everyone in on what exactly had happened but first I wanted to wait for things to at the very least calm down a little first.

"I'm still waiting for you to tell me what happened over the last four months that you were gone"

"Later, I'll tell you later" I hummed dismissively as I turned around and began to leave the room.

"Anyway, I'll head over there and see what's up now" I said as I closed the door behind me.

The moment that I got outside I summoned my wings and shot into the sky. It definitely would not take me all that long to actually reach my destination considering my new found speed, however when I got about half way I suddenly stopped.

Flying down I landed easily within the rather dense forest, using my enhanced detection capabilities I quickly made sure that no one from Tempest had followed me, more specifically a certain information gathering ninja and his small group of followers. Once that was all sorted out I walked over to the closed tree to myself and well...well I punched it.

"God damn it!" I growled out as the tree as well as several other trees behind it shattered into tiny pieces from the force created by the impact.

"Damn it all..." I sighed inwardly as I sat down with my back against another, less broken tree.

(I wish things could be simple for just ones, is that really too much to fucking ask for...?)

I couldn't help the frustration that I was feeling, after all things were definitely not going as I had hoped. It seemed that shit was just piling up and everything was becoming far more complicated as each day passed.

(Milim...what are you up to now I wonder?)

"Huh?" My previous thoughts were cut short however, mostly because a small abyss gate had opened close to me and from it came a familiar face.

"Poe?" I hummed in confusion as the little teddy bear in question quickly handed me a cup of tea.

"Oh errm thanks, I guess?"

As I drank the tea I took a second to glance over at Poe, he had not changed at all. He was still the cute little white bear that I knew, however I had no idea what his new form looked like now. Considering the fact that his new race was literally called "Abyssal eldritch bear" I was pretty sure his true appearance was probably horrifying to a degree that I could not even fathom.

"So...why are you here anyway?" I was somewhat confused as to the sudden visit. Poe in turn began waving his hands around as he started to mime something out.

"Ah, gotcha" I had surprisingly gotten rather good at understanding the little guy.

(I mean I guess it makes sense that they would want to send someone to check up on me)

"Hmmm?" Refocusing my attention back on Poe I noticed he was once again trying to say something.

"I am just frustrated, that's all. I mean a lot of crap has happened and I'm getting really fed up with it all" I muttered as I began to explain my irritation.

"I mean seriously, I get back from fighting in a war against a psychopathic group of cultists only to realize some of my friends have died and an entirely separate war had apparently broken out for some stupid reason. I was even forced to become a demon lord to save said friends and bring them back to life"

"And now Milim is not only on the war path but is also seemingly not acting like herself at all...I guess I'm just feeling a little overwhelmed" I sighed as I let my shoulders sag. For part Poe just shook his head before saying something else that made me roll my eyes.

"Yeah...yeah you're right, I need to vent my frustrations somehow instead of just bottling them up until I explode again" I muttered, I knew very well that I had emotional problems and that I needed to work on keeping them under control.

"I know, I know bu-" I stopped myself when I noticed the rather stern look that I was getting.

"Haha, yeah you're probably right. I really can't afford to just sit around here moping about stuff I currently have no control over. And when did you become a therapist by the way?" All I got as a response was Poe puffing out his chest, he was apparently quite proud of himself.

"Thanks for the pep talk buddy" I smiled as I got to my feet.

"Welp, let's go see what is going on with this kelpie thing. You want to tag along?" Getting a nod as confirmation I began to walk forward.

"Cool"